Bringing in the harvest

Have been clearing the veggie plot of its remaining takings before an early frost takes it all from us!


The more you pick, the more you get it seems in alot of cases. I've taken in loads more beans and tomatoes since taking this picture. I find the beans are best picked young and not too long, otherwise you are a bit stringy when eaten.

The sweetcorn stepped a tiny bit further to successful this year compared to last. Out of the six planted, all but one have produced a single corn, although sadly only one of those we've been able to eat as the others just aren't getting the warmth to ripen fully. The one we tried though was amazing - I'd never tasted corn so fresh and sweet - nothing like the stuff we buy in the shops!


Another planting year done, I guess it's nearly time to start all over again, starting with the garlic!

Veggie update (August)

It feels like I've let things slip alittle, or perhaps it's just that the veg are ticking along nicely and don't really need my help too much (apart from constant watering of the indoor chillies and tomatoes), and I did spend an afternoon this week weeding like mad (but I took the photos before I'd done this - doh!).


Lots of lots of chilli. Paul is using the green and the red ones to make his hot, spicy pickled chillies - a hit with the family last year.


Sweetcorn - all six are doing OK, but all are very small - like last year, I'm not expecting much!


Oh my goodness, look at those weeds! Look at the purple sprouting broc too - not alot left is there? At least we've had a garden full of happy caterpillars and butterflies.


The outdoor tomato plants are full of fruit and a couple have ripened this last week. Need more warmth and sun.


Cute threesome of pumpkins - a litte early, not sure if they'll keep until Halloween. Growing fruit and veg is certainly a learning curve.


Peas have finished now but we have a huge crop of beans and dwarf beans. If they're not picked regularly, they become stringy when cooked. With still more flowers coming out every day I guess there'll be a lot more picking to do, which we all enjoy doing.


"Yum" sums up this photo - pickings from indoors and outdoors.

Tomatoes, Runners, Garlic and Chilli update

Yesterday and today I had the joy of cooking a meal using several veg harvested from our own garden - fabulous.

Here's a photo update:

Garlic, Spring Onions, Pumpkins, Runner Beans ...

... all coming along really well. Have picked lots and lots of peas (the more you pick the more you get) and have started picking runners too now.


These are the type that wind themselves round the bamboo poles right to the top (and now wanting to go higher) - lovely red flowers. The dwarf variety are at the front of the poles and have pretty pink flowers.



I've harvested all the garlic now. I wasn't too sure when to actually start taking them out of the ground; the book stated when the stalks start to yellow and begin to bend over. They certainly were going yellow, but not really bending. The reason I pulled them was that a few I did pull had mildew on them and definitely weren't healthy. Once the sun came out for a prolonged period I decided to dig up the rest. Have a huge crop with just a small amount of dud ones. This fabulous hot weather has been brilliant for helping them dry out (on a garden bench); they're now hanging in an equally hot spot in the conservatory kitchen to finish off the process.



Spring Onions in the pot and in the ground have grown so fast this year and are all more-or-less ready for use. Have noticed a bit of "rust" on a few and the cats seem to enjoy laying on them too!



I can certainly vouch for whoever said to grow pumpkins in last years compost (Monty Don I think) - they're going berzerk! Under all those lovely large leaves there's alot of gorgeous flowers and alot of mini pumpkins beginning their new lives. Hopefully we'll be able to get at least two out of that lot for Halloween.

Progress ... outside

The beans have been added to now so there's three different variety of beans in there. One lot are dwarf from last year's supply and the other two varieties are from a friend so not sure what they are! I grew quite a few seeds indoors which turned out to be the perfect amount in the end as I had to replace a couple that had been completely destroyed by something or other - most probably the hens. This is why the "keep out" netting is back around them. Although I've just finished planting these out, the second lot are exactly the same size as the first lot. Hope they liven up soon - perhaps the ground is a little too cold for them. At the end of the row I've put in a couple of tomato plants as they were surplus and I didn't have the heart to get rid of them!


Planted out two pumpkins which had started off indoors. Had to replace one of them as it was looking pretty dodgey. Luckily I had a healthy spare still on the windowsill. Both have grown quite well since the wetter weather. These are planted in a thrown together raised bed with last year's compost, which I've read they love. Their leaves are going a bit yellow (I've noticed this with the first lot of beans too) - will watch what happens.


Look at these pots and plastic bags of potatoes - all doing fabulously - just need some flowers now. Wonder if they'll be white or purple.


Peas are gradually climbing, they are now up to their fourth line of supporting string. Getting lovely white flowers now too.


Garlic is looking good and strong and the spring onions, sown between the rows of garlic and also in their own section, are beginning to look more settled in their new positions.

Bean poles and pumpkin patch

The children do some preparations with the veggie plot on Sunday. The weather was glorious - lovely to be outside for so long with the extra light too in the evening. Wasn't so good losing the hour on Sunday morning though I must say!

I used a pile of old bricks to build a quick veg bed for our pumpkins. I didn't quite have enough to make a minimum 12 inches in depth (as suggested by a magazine I have recently read), so I rummaged around in the log pile and found some suitable chunky logs to make up the few extra inches needed. Having read that pumpkins love to grow in compost heaps I decided, with Ben's help, to fill the new bed with the majority of last year's home made compost. Really pleased with it - it's composted down beautifully (with the odd tea bag still lurking!). Now I have space on the compost heap for this year's lot of kitchen and garden waste, including a fresh bag of horse manure to kick start it.

So, have dug over and raked the main plot, Katie helped put in some tall poles for the peas (which are doing really well indoors) and later the beans. They also both helped plant up the four free potatoes, plus a couple of others which we found sprouting in the garden!